financial excesses

PEOPLE
Matthias Schultze (38) has taken office on May 1, 2010, as
managing director of the GCB German Convention Bureau.
The GCB supervisory board arrived at an unanimous decision
to appoint Schultze to that position. Supervisory board
members Petra Hedorfer und August Moderer commented
that they know Matthias Schultze to be an internationally
acknowledged expert in the convention and congress industry
and that this standing and Schultze’s professional knowhow
gained in the hotel and association industry made him a
perfect candidate for filling the position as managing director.
In his most recent position, Matthias Schultze was
managing director of the company operating the World
Conference Center Bonn, which consists of the former
plenary hall of the German Bundestag and a nearby historic
building. Matthias Schultze was also vice president of the
European Association of Event Centers EVVC. The business
administration graduate worked in a variety of positions in
national and international hotel and congress management,
among these also for Hilton International. In the past six
years, Matthias Schultze was in charge of operations and
marketing of the World Conference Center Bonn.
Krista Florin (39) is the new director for
global communication and brand marketing
for Relais & Châteaux. In this capacity, she
has been reporting to CEO Jacques-Olivier
Chauvin since early April 2010. From the
Paris headquarters, she will coordinate
worldwide activities of the hotel and restaurant association
in the fields of public relations, advertisement, and brand
marketing. "Krista’s extensive experience in working with
global premium brands will be an asset to increase the brand
recognition of Relais & Châteaux", said CEO Jacques-Olivier
Chauvin. Prior to 2010, Krista Florin held position in New York
as director of communications for Sergio Rossi, one of the
Gucci group brands. Before that, she was for more than ten
years PR director for North and South America with Bulgari,
in which function she was responsible for communication
activities for expansion and product diversification of the
brand. Krista Florin studied Romance languages
and literature at the Colgate University in the state
of New York and set off on her professional career
at the French-American chamber of trade and commerce
in New York City.
Franziska Ullerich (28) has been Key Account
Manager Tours & Groups for QGD Hotelmanagement
in Frankfurt since late March of this year.
OGD operates 21hotels all over Germany under the
Holiday Inn, Best Western, and Queens brands.
The qualified hotel expert was previously employed
in the Maritim group sales department. In her
new position as contact for bus and group travel
tour operators, she reinforces the sales team headed
by Matthias Dalchow. QGD Hotelmanagement
generates a turnover in the range of EUR 120 million with
more than one million guests staying in 4,400 rooms.
Benoît Juillet (44) joined senior management of the hotel
and restaurant association Relais & Châteaux in Paris as
chief financial officer on March 1 of this year. He reports
directly to president Jaume Tàpies and is responsible for
administration and finances of the association and its ten
subsidiaries in France and abroad. "Benoit Juillet’s expert
knowledge of the financial management of an international
network will be a huge asset for the further development of
Relais & Châteaux", said Jaume Tàpies, International President
of Relais & Châteaux. Benoît was chief financial officer
with the Hermès subsidiary Hermès Parfume until the end
of February of this year; he had initially joined that company
in 1999 as director of administration and finance. Prior to that
function, he had headed international controlling at the finance
directorate of the holding company. He had initially
joined the group in March 1993 as internal auditor of the
most important French subsidiary Hermès Sellier.
Petra Bielesch (41) is the new marketing director of Reed
Exhibitions Deutschland GmbH. She succeeded Maren
Mehlis to that position on March 1 of this year; Mehlis had
joined Karlsruher Messe- und Kongress GmbH at the turn of
the year. Hans-Joachim Erbel, managing director of Reed
Exhibitions Deutschland GmbH, is convinced that Petra Bielesch
is an expo and marketing expert with considerable
experience who knows all the ropes in marketing, media
planning, and media production in the expo and trade fair
industry. This is underlined by the business management
graduate’s career: almost 14 years of experience in the
marketing and expo industry, most recently as head of the
Igedo marketing department, are an impressive track record
indeed. Her prior stations include the HINTE expo and marketing
agency, at first in marketing and PR for HINTE Messeund
Ausstellungs-GmbH and later as communications manager
of HINTE Marketing & Media GmbH, before she finally
joined Reed Exhibitions.
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